SPOTLIGHT: WILDLIFE FILMS
2016 Environmental Film Festival Will Present
130+ Films Across the City from March 15-26
The 24th annual Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital, the largest and longest-running environmental film festival in the country, will present 130+ films selected to provide fresh perspectives on a wide variety of environmental issues facing the earth, from March 15-26. “Parks: Protecting Wild,” exploring the vital role of parks and protected areas in sheltering wildlife and natural resources on our planet, will be the focus of a selection of 2016 Festival films. Screenings will include discussion with filmmakers, scientists and environmental experts, and many are free. The complete Festival schedule will be posted in mid-February at .
Films willhighlight endangered and threatened wildlife, from birds such as the Puffin, the Bluebird, the Hispaniolan Emerald, and the Osprey, to the plight of lions in Africa and Asia, Monkeys in Sri Lanka and, closer to home, wild horses in the American West and the status of the Atlantic blue crab. Details on specific films are below.
3/15
4:00 p.m. & 6:00 p.m.
Embassy of Canada
PUFFIN PATROL (Canada, 2015, 50 min.) On the remote coastlines of Maine, Wales, and Newfoundland, scientists observe the annual life cycle of the Atlantic Puffin to discover what this intriguing little bird can teach us about the dangers facing our natural world, while environmentalists fight to protect vulnerable chicks. Join our team of experts and puffin lovers on Puffin Patrol! Directed by Scott Dobson and produced by Charlotte Engel and Rosemary House.
Discussion with director Scott Dobson.
Embassy of Canada, 501 Pennsylvania Ave., NW (Metro: Archives-Navy Memorial, Judiciary Square)
3/17
7:00 p.m.
Carnegie Institution for Science
Eric Moe Sustainability Film Award- WINNER
BLUEBIRD MAN (USA, 2014, 28 min.) Washington, D.C. PremierePeople call Al Larson “The Bluebird Man” for good reason: at 92, this self-taught conservationist has dedicated 35 years of his life to saving North America’s bluebirds by maintaining a network of over 300 “nestboxes” in the highlands of Idaho that provide vital support to a population in recovery. Bluebird Man aims to inspire our next generation of citizen scientists, showing all the humble effort and natural beauty of Larson’s endeavor and the grandeur of the birds he’s fighting to save. Directed by Neil Paprockiand Matthew Podolsky.
Reservations required.
Carnegie Institution for Science, Elihu Root Auditorium, 1530 P St., NW (Metro: Dupont Circle)
3/18
7:00 p.m.
GALA Hispanic Theatre
Presented with the Dominican Republic Environmental Film Festival
7 GRAMS(Dominican Republic, 2015, 12 min.) United States Premiere When a Hispaniolan Emerald, one of the world’s smallest birds, builds its nest in a construction site, a rural community in the Dominican Republic faces tough decisions about conservation. Directed by Jonatán Vila and HadzaelGómez.
GALA Hispanic Theatre, 3333 14th St., NW (Metro: Columbia Heights)
3/19, 10:30 a.m. & 3/20, 11:30 a.m.
National Gallery of Art
MONKEY KINGDOM (USA, 2015, 81 min.)In the Sri Lankan jungle, a newborn monkey and its mother struggle to survive within the competitive social hierarchy of the Temple Troop, a group of macaques living in a complex of ancient ruins. On top of the Troop’s internal squabbles, they also coexist with diverse neighbors, from elephants to mongooses to the most perplexing of all – human beings. Seamlessly melding timeless storytelling and comic narration by Tina Fey with real scientific observations of macaque behavior, Monkey Kingdom is a delight for animal-loving kids and adults alike. Directed and produced by Mark Linfield and Alastair Fothergill.
FREE. No reservations required.
National Gallery of Art, West Building Lecture Hall, 6th St. and Constitution Ave., NW (Metro: Archives-Navy Memorial, Judiciary Square)
3/20, 12:30 p.m.
Carnegie Institution for Science
Part of the Visionary Green Shorts Program
THE ART OF FLYING (The Netherlands, 2015, 7 min.)Washington, D.C. Premiere Every night, all over Europe and North America, populations of Common Starling gather at dusk to perform a stunning air show in vast, amorphous flocks called “murmurations.” Their ability to fly in such dense swarms without colliding still baffles scientists, and produces one of the most unreal spectacles nature has to offer. Jan van IJkencaptures this phenomenon in crisp black and white over Dutch farmland, distilling its beauty and mystery.Directed by Jan van IJken.
FREE.No reservations required.
Carnegie Institution for Science,1530 P St., NW (Metro: Dupont Circle)
3/22
7:30 p.m.
Embassy of Austria
MAKING AN ANCIENT FOREST (Austria, 2015, 52 min.) United States Premiere The remote forests of Kalkalpen National Park in Austria, the largest area of wilderness in the European Alps, have been left untouched by humans for nearly a quarter of a century in order to return to their natural, primeval state. The landscape regenerates itself in dramatic cycles of growth and decay, and this bold hands-off method of conservation yields salient results: the lynx, absent from the area for 115 years, has returned. Directed by Rita Schlamberger. Produced by Michael Schlamberger.
Embassy of Austria, 3524 International Court, NW (Metro: Van Ness-UDC)
3/26
TINY GIANTS 3D(UK, 2014, 44 min.)A chipmunk in a forest and a grasshopper mouse in the Arizona desert face titanic battles when they find themselves alone for the first time. Thankfully, these little animals have remarkable superpowers that allow them to defy the odds and survive threats from all sides. Tiny Giants uses specialist 3D cameras to shrink audiences down to mouse-height, immersing them in a thrilling miniature world, guided by a narration by legendary British actor Stephen Fry. Directed by Mark Brownlow. Produced by Amanda Hill, Neil Nightingale, Mark Brownlow, and Michael Gunton.
THE GREAT ALONE (USA, 2015, 84 min.) The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is one of the toughest competitions in the world: over four times more people have summited Everest than have made the thousand-mile journey from Anchorage to Nome though some of the world’s harshest terrain. Lance Mackey is the race’s greatest underdog, a champion's son who beat cancer and addiction to achieve the longest winning streak in Iditarod history. The Great Alone pulls viewers alongside Lance and his dogs through every mile of his journey and reveals the redemptive power of the natural world. Directed by Greg Kohs and produced by Greg Kohs, Clint Caluory, and Jonathan Hock.
BLOOD LIONS (USA/South Africa, 2016, xx min.) Under the cover of legal loopholes and “wildlife sanctuary” fronts, breeding facilities in South Africa raise lions in captivity to be shot at close range by the highest bidder. In this big business of “canned hunting,” anyone with enough money can select an animal from an online photo gallery and then kill it while it sits fenced in. In Blood Lions, reporters and activists investigate these brutal practices that pass off animal cruelty as both hunting and conservation work, uncovering an international web of deception and misinformation. Directed by Bruce Young and produced by Dr. Andrew Venter, Pippa Hankinson, and Jeremy Nathan.
INDIA’S WANDERING LIONS(India, 2015, 52 min.) At the Gir Forest Sanctuary in Gujarat, the last remaining population of Asiatic Lions – a species that once covered much of Europe and Asia but nearly went extinct – has rebounded dramatically. In fact, their population has grown to the point that the small Sanctuary can’t contain them, so they rove the surrounding countryside, preying on cattle in rural villages. India’s Wandering Lions combines winsome wildlife filmmaking with a nuanced exploration of what happens when a triumph of conservation unexpectedly creates conflict between humans and animals. Directed by Martin Dohrn and Praveen Singh.
LIFE STORY: FIRST STEPS (UK, 2014, 59 min.) Every animal shares one formative experience: taking its first steps into a vast and precarious world after being born. In this episode of the BBC’s Life Story, the legendary naturalist David Attenborough shows us how a globe-spanning collection of creatures copes with the challenges of emerging for the first time. From the Barnacle goose chick’s death-defying leap to the airborne acrobatics of orchid mantises to the nocturnal explorations of the long-eared jerboa – a species never before filmed in the wild – Life Story captures the first tentative motions of a wide variety of animals in delightful and innovative ways. Directed by Sophie Lanfear and produced by Michael Gunton and Tom Hugh-Jones.
ODDBALL (Australia, 2015, 95 min.) Off the south coast of Australia, foxes have taken over an island sanctuary that is home to the world’s smallest penguins, damaging their population. But an eccentric chicken farmer and his precocious granddaughter hatch a plan to save the penguins: they’ll train his mischievous sheepdog to guard them. Based on a true story, Oddball finds a wealth of kid-friendly hijinks in real-life conservation issues, teaching that anyone – nine-year-old girls, misbehaving dogs – can have a huge impact in saving endangered animals. Directed by Stuart McDonald.
OSPREY: MARINE SENTINEL (USA, 2015, 15 min.) The recovery of the osprey population after damage due to environmental contaminants is one of the great conservation successes of our time. Osprey: Marine Sentinel tells the story through a combination of dramatic footage of this iconic raptor and interviews with expert ornithologists. Directed by Jacob Steinberg.
UNBRANDED (USA, 2015, 105 min.) Iconic as they are, America’s wild horses, or “mustangs,” pose tough conservation issues, and the Bureau of Land Management keeps thousands of them in holding pens due to the strain their numbers put on ecosystems. Four recent college graduates with a sideline in wrangling put their belief in the potential of these mustangs to the test, setting off on an epic ride from Mexico to Canada through some of our nation’s most jaw-dropping – and unforgiving – landscapes. In the background of their journey, conservationists talk through the complexities of land use. Directed by Phillip Baribeau and produced by Dennis Aig, Cindy Meehl, and David Preston Reeves Jr.
BEAUTIFUL SWIMMERS REVISITED (USA, 2016, xx min.) World Premiere
Award- winning writer Tom Horton advances the story of Callinectessapidus, the Atlantic blue crab, picking up where William W. Warner’s Pulitzer Prize-winning best-seller, Beautiful Swimmers, an exploration of watermen, crabs and the Chesapeake Bay, left off. Directed by Sandy Cannon-Brown.